The Spica class illustrates a sensible use of the small-combatant exemption. The Italian ships carried torpedoes and were categorized as torpedo boats rather than destroyers. Their scale and armament suited short-range Mediterranean operations even if they lacked the capabilities of larger fleet destroyers. Building them by the dozen shows that the treaty system still left room for substantial local-defense forces.
Notable Point · 1:48-2:29
Spica-class torpedo boats below the treaty threshold
Italy's Spica-class torpedo boats illustrate how a navy could build useful Mediterranean combatants without numerical limits by keeping their declared displacement near 600 tons.